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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22624087">this side of the mountain</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash, Probably ooc, they're just good bros okay, very vague timeline</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:42:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22624087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama makes a friend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou &amp; Kageyama Tobio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>this side of the mountain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi !! so i wrote this on a whim after deciding i cannot write poetry, so extremely un-betaed and unedited. hope it's not awful! also a warning: kinda ooc at the end because i don't have a good grasp of kageyama's personality so yes, cool beans :")</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Kageyama’s side of the mountains, the suburbs are still snowy in late February. The bikes left outside frost over and stick to your hands when you try to wrangle them out of their locks, and the trees are still barren and brittle. Kageyama breaths out. It looks like the smoke coming from the neighborhood uncles’ cigarettes, curling in cloudy tendrils until it dissolves into mist. He shivers in his puffy coat and hat. It’s cold at night, understandably, and Kageyama curses himself for his lack of foresight. He is thirteen.</p><p> </p><p>He takes a few crunchy steps into the snowy sidewalk. His feet are cold. He keeps walking. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It’s cherry blossom season. The sidewalks no longer reflect the sky. They can’t--they’re covered in a thick layer of fallen flower petals, trampled into submission by the wheels of bikes and the soles of rainboots. School is just barely in session, and Kageyama always goes to the gym for lunch. He is never hungry until late at night, anyway.</p><p> </p><p>After volleyball, Kageyama goes home. It’s not far away. Earlier in the day, Hinata told him that his house is on the other side of the mountain. Kageyama almost pities him for having a house that far away, but he has always, since he met Hinata, thought he was annoying. A little too much on the optimistic side, a little too bright. He never gets angry, just frustrated at himself, and Kageyama admires that, but if he would just… tone it down.</p><p> </p><p>However, over much time and many petty arguments, Kageyama learns that Hinata is too much like him. He’s someone he’d never expect to be comparing himself to. It goes something like this: they’re both competitive, ambitious, passionate about volleyball, and it’s something Kageyama can never get--Hinata’s insistence about <em> everything </em>and all, how he didn’t turn out like Kageyama. He’s the same, but somehow, he’s the polar opposite of everything Kageyama knows about himself. And it’s not just deductive data; it’s everything people have told him through elementary school and junior high: talented, prodigy, genius, and last but not least, tyrant.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Kageyama,” Hinata drolls, “why do you have to be so serious all the time?”</p><p> </p><p>Kageyama emits a noise of surprise. Nobody has ever asked him that. Understandably, of course, because people just ask within themselves. He’s always heard the whispers--<em> Kageyama’s always so angry. I wonder why? Oh, it’s probably because his mom died when he was super young. How do you know? Akira-san told me so! </em>His mom isn't even dead.</p><p> </p><p>“Boke, I’m not serious all the time. Where did you get that from, boke?”</p><p> </p><p>Hinata gives him a look. “I haven’t seen you smile, like ever, except that one time Daichi-san gave you his meat bun <em> and </em> a box of milk.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, that’s not true. See?” He tries to smile. Tries.</p><p> </p><p>“... are you okay?” Hinata trails off. Kageyama, if not for his innocent school uniform and box of milk, looks like he’s about to commit homicide.</p><p> </p><p>Kageyama goes red in the face. “Doing fine,” he deadpans.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>In Miyagi, the sky is bright, bright blue in the summer. It’s the kind of blue you’d see in a Caribbean travel brochure’s picture of a secluded lagoon, almost crystalline--glitter, gleaming, like some kind of unattainable paradise; clouds are sparse in the sky on most days, and the local fish is incredibly tasty. It’s also inconveniently hot, and Kageyama’s AC is inconveniently fictitious. But Hinata’s AC! Hinata’s AC is rather real, so Kageyama decides, by the whims of his sweaty, teenage boy brain, that he will go to Hinata’s house after volleyball. It’s far, but if Kageyama does the math, the positives outweigh the negatives.</p><p> </p><p>At Hinata’s house lives other people. Obviously, because Kageyama hears Hinata talk about his sister and parents, but something just didn’t click in his head until now. Picture frames big and small line the bookshelves on walls of the Hinata household. Kageyama thinks he spots a “live, love, laugh” sign somewhere in a corner. They’re not the stupid annual family portraits Kageyama’s dad likes; most of them are candid shots of Hinata, his sister, and their parents. One of them is reasonably into photography, Kageyama decides.</p><p> </p><p>“Nii-chan, is this the scary Kageyama from volleyball?” asks Natsu, barrelling out from her room into Hinata’s arms. She looks up at Kageyama curiously.</p><p> </p><p>Hinata’s eyes widen, and Kageyama gives him a look. “I’m scary Kageyama now?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oops?” Out of the goodness of his heart, Kageyama decides not to insult Hinata in front of his little sister.</p><p> </p><p>Not a second had passed, and Hinata spots his mother. “Mom!” He springs up to hug her. “I brought Kageyama home because he doesn’t have air conditioning. Also, we were gonna do homework together!”</p><p> </p><p>Hinata’s mom laughs. “You didn’t have to justify yourself. I’m okay with you bringing friends over, y’ know?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I was just making sure. Kageyama and I will be upstairs, then!”</p><p> </p><p>“Tell me if you need anything, boys!” Hinata’s mom yells as Hinata brings Kageyama to his room.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They didn’t end up studying. Kageyama revels in the cold air as he gave his textbook two glances before throwing it aside and laying on the floor. The floor is cool, like the rest of the house. Hinata’s mom, at some point, came upstairs to remind them of the time and invited Kageyama to stay the night. He immediately agreed; his mom won’t mind, and it’s a free night with AC. It’s an impeccable deal.</p><p> </p><p>Deep into the night, Hinata stirs in his futon. “Hey, Kageyama, we’re friends now, right? I mean, don’t only friends stay at each other’s house for a night?”</p><p> </p><p>“We are?” Kageyama asks.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you want to be? Because I think it’d be pretty cool to be friends with you.”</p><p> </p><p>Kageyama quiets for a moment and smiles to himself. “Friends, huh? I think that’d be pretty cool too.”</p><p> </p><p>Hinata laughs. “Did you just smile, Mr. I’m-so-serious-that-I-don’t-smile?”</p><p> </p><p>“Boke, I did not! Also, how did you even see? It’s completely dark!” Kageyama barks.</p><p> </p><p>“You just admitted it! No take-backs, Bakageyama!”</p><p> </p><p>Natsu comes in and tells them to shut up, and they are quiet for the rest of the night.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kageyama finds that the other side of the mountain is not so different. The suburbs get the same coat of frost, and Hinata struggles to touch his bike with bare hands. Despite it being nearly April again, it is colder this year, and the news channels think the cherry blossoms are coming later than normal. The markets sell fresh fruit and vegetables like on the other side, and there are also those one or two uncles taking puffs out of their cigarettes. Breathe in, and it smells like the forest. Breathe out, and Kageyama watches as his breath diffuses.</p><p> </p><p>“Kageyama, check out the sky! It’s so pretty--like someone put cotton candy in a blender,” Hinata says as he stares in awe at the sun dipping into the welcome arms of the faraway hills.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s a really stupid comparison, idiot.”</p><p> </p><p>“You think it’s really pretty. I can just see it on your face!” Hinata exclaims.</p><p> </p><p>“I do think it’s really pretty.” Kageyama pauses.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” he says, almost solemnly. In his head, it’s only right for him to thank Hinata--for everything he’s brought him: all the joy, the success, the passion, and the friendship. In his head, it’s the least he could do.</p><p> </p><p>Hinata gapes at him. “For what?”</p><p> </p><p>“For being friends with me. So I could see this, and everything else, I guess.” Kageyama says instead. Blood rises to his face, and he already regrets saying it after taking one look at Hinata's blank face.</p><p> </p><p>“Kageyama is very sentimental today.” Hinata cracks a grin.</p><p> </p><p>“Boke!”</p><p> </p><p>Kageyama watches the sun dip below the horizon, but never quite leave him. He is fifteen, and he smiles in its wake.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading!</p><p>scream about kagehina w/ me on <a href="https://twitter.com/rintaroubff">twitter</a> if you so please, have a nice day &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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